Power Shopping

We have come to Sad Barg, the multi story shopping centre just south of Dushanbe’s city centre, in search of a tailor to hem a pair of suit pants, and to seek out a suitably Russian going-out outfit for me. It takes some time to decipher the cerilic on the signs, but we come to the conclusion that we must head to the third floor, and enter the building through it’s heavy doors.

It is dark inside the concrete stairwell, though the Tajiks coming and going seem less bothered by it than I am, quickily passing me on their way up and down the stairs, while I grope at the wall, tentatively taking each step at a time. As we enter the labrynth of stalls selling everything that Myer could provide and more, we realise that the darkness of the stairwell extends throughout the building, the only light straining through the tiny windows of the outer stalls. Those far from windows use mobile phones to illuminate their stock.

The darkness disuades no one. Tajiks love to shop, so it is no surprise that even a city wide powerfailure is no obstacle in their pursuit of fashionable threads. The fact that it is the eve of Nor Rus- the Persian New Year, and the traditional time for buying new clothes adds to the frenzy.

My eyes gradually adjust, but I am overwhelmed. So many racks of clothes and rows of fabrics. Gaudy golden jewelry glinting in the dark.

We resolve to return when the power is back on, and when we do, the centre is no longer dimly surreal, glowing with nokia’s irridescant screen lights. The scene is reduced to the ordinary; bored shop girls sigh, busty ladies jostle in front of cut price stockings and controll undies.

Our errands are achieved under the bright glare of the fluros, though had we the stamina and determination of the Tajiks, we might have fulfilled our tasks hours before and had the afternoon to enjoy the fading sunlight.

Who knows what powers the Tajik through the obstacles imposed upon their daily lives, but powered they are, and shop they will. More power to them.